First, a confession. I watch way too much reality television. I am addicted to the real estate shows on HGTV as well as Tabatha’s Salon Takeover on Bravo.
The following is a short list of some of the things I hear far too much while viewing my guilty pleasure television shows. These sayings really get the wind up my skirt.
- On accident. Besides being grammatically incorrect (the correct versions being, by accident or accidentally) it just sounds awkward and unnatural.
- Check it out. If I have to hear let’s go check out the backyard (or bedroom or kitchen or insert any other noun you can think of) one more time, I’ll scream. Can’t people think of any other way to say this, like, oh I don’t know, “Let’s go see, look at, inspect , analyze, investigate, look over, scout out, scrutinize or appraise?”
- Step it up, or just Step up is another overused phrase that is grating my last nerve. It is most overused in the aforementioned Tabatha’s Salon Takeover, by none other than Tabatha, herself. This puts the wind up my skirt mostly because she’s usually quite articulate and this phrase just brings her down an unnecessary peg . There are many other, more intelligent, ways to say this. I hear this phrase overused in the media all the time, but Tabatha takes to another level, so much so, that my friends and I even made a drinking game out of it, but had to stop because we were all becoming alcoholics. I dare you to watch an episode and drink every time she says STEP UP. I guarantee you won’t be able to walk to the bathroom to vomit by the end of the hour.
I weep for the future of the English language via the dumbing down of society. If you want to watch a great movie that’s funny because it’s true, that also illustrates my point perfectly, I highly recommend you “check out” Idiocracy (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0387808/).
Or “back in the day”? Or “that’s a whole nother issue”? Or “I could care less”?
Or “if I were you” or “if you want my advice”